1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to providing park guests with disabilities or reduced mobility such as the very young and elderly with enhanced access to amusement park rides, and, more particularly, to vehicle and track designs and systems to provide passengers with disabilities such as those that use wheelchairs with a relatively seamless access to a synchronous ride (e.g., an omnimover ride) without stopping the ride or interrupting flow of the ride and an associated show or attraction.
2. Relevant Background
Amusement parks continue to be popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. Historically, amusement park operators provided walk-through attractions that presented artwork, music/soundtracks, and effects with museum, haunted house, and other themes. These attractions were popular with many guests of the parks, but park operators had difficulty increasing the daily capacity of such attractions because many guests would linger in various portions of the attraction or even reverse direction in an attempt to visit prior portions of the attraction. As a result, walk-through attractions have generally been replaced by attractions in which the guests ride in vehicles along a track or path through the attraction.
The omnimover is a ride system that has been developed to provide an experience that is similar to a walk-through experience or ride-through tour as it moves guests at speeds similar to walking speed such as less than about 2 feet per second. The omnimover is a ride system used for theme park attractions such as haunted houses in which two, three, or more guests sit in a vehicle that is towed or moved along a track. The omnimover ride system includes a large number of such vehicles that are each attached or linked to a chain. The vehicle chain moves along a track and may be hidden beneath a floor with the vehicles riding on wheels or bogies mating with a track (or pair of rails like a train track). Additional control rails may be provided to control individual rotation or swivel of the vehicles to orient the guests toward various show features and to keep the vehicles level as the track ascends or descends on sloped portions of the attraction.
Omnimover attractions differ from many other ride systems because they are synchronous with the show features such as the soundtrack and special effects such as the display of a ghost or other visual displays being closely timed or synchronized with the movement of the vehicles. In contrast, roller coaster and many other amusement park rides are asynchronous because each vehicle or sets of vehicles can experience the ride separately without effecting the show experience of other vehicles. To support vehicle location and show synchronization in omnimovers, the vehicles are positioned on specific locations on the vehicle chain (e.g., neighboring vehicles are typically closely spaced) to provide a knows, fixed spacing. Also, the train of vehicles is kept in continuous and predictable motion by ongoing or constant movement of the vehicle chain at typically a constant speed throughout the entire course of the attraction.
In addition to maintaining a ride's capacity, park operators are faced with the challenge of providing an enjoyable ride and park experience to guests with disabilities or handicaps. For example, many guests may use wheelchairs, walkers, or otherwise have difficulty in loading and unloading ride vehicles as quickly as other guests. Significant efforts have been made by many park operators to design vehicles that are accessible to or can receive a wheelchair. However, these efforts typically are used for asynchronous rides such as roller coasters and water rides, and the ride does not have to be stopped to physically transfer or insert the loaded vehicle onto the track. In contrast, loading handicapped guests onto omnimover rides is extremely challenging since all vehicles are connected to the vehicle chain at particular locations and the ride is designed for constant movement of the chain at a particular speed. Standard loading and unloading occur with guests standing on a loading belt that is moving at the chain/vehicle speed entering adjacent vehicles and, at a different location or station, guests in vehicles exiting a moving vehicle onto an adjacent unloading belt that is moving at the speed of the chain/vehicle.
Presently, park operators provide access to handicapped guests by slowing or stopping the entire ride system to allow the guest sufficient time to safely transfer (e.g., load and unload) into a custom vehicle. This loading process is undesirable for a number of reasons. It is undesirable from a creative or storytelling standpoint to stop an omnimover ride system because the story flow is broken or interrupted at both loading and unloading and guests in the vehicles within the attraction are taken out of the illusion or magic of the ride when they see a constant/still show effect or one that is repeated or actuated multiple times in front of their stopped vehicle. Also, there may be public announcements informing guests why the vehicle has been halted and urging them to remain seated. However, safety is a concern during such loading because guests in stopped vehicles may be inclined to get out of their vehicles especially near an unloading belt or station, which may result in injuries or potentially harmful situations. Further, the handicapped guest is often impacted by such loading because they understand that they are impacting the other guests' experience, which can cause them to feel uncomfortable or otherwise decrease their enjoyment of the attraction or ride as they receive often unwanted attention.